Silk Flower DIY

I absolutely love making hair pieces, especially flowers! Here is a little tutorial on how to make 2 different kinds of fabric flowers. I usually put these on hair clips, but they could also be put on a headband or a pin (to decorate clothing, bags, shoes, whatever you want!). I apologize for the bad quality of most of these photos-- my parents still have our good camera!

List of supplies:Synthetic silk fabric
Buttons or beads
Scissors
A small candle
Needle and thread
Hot glue gun (you can use a needle and thread if you don't have one)

WARNING: Be careful not to burn yourself or catch the fabric on fire-- the flame can get really hot! It might be a good idea to have some water close by in case the fabric catches on fire. If you are younger make sure you have adult supervision when you're doing this!

To make these flowers you will need a synthetic fabric (that will melt when heated) that is not too thin (so its not super floppy).
Start by cutting circles in decreasing sizes. Make your largest circle slightly larger than you want your flower to be when it's done (putting it over heat will make it smaller). Each circle should decrease in size by a couple of centimeters. The number of circles you cut will depend on how big you want your flower to be.

Next, take each circle and hold them a couple of inches above a flame. Rotate the circle around as it begins to melt and curl. Be careful--sometimes it may seem like the flame is doing nothing and then all of a sudden it's done too much! It's up to you how much you want it to curl and melt. Once you've done this to each circle, stack them on top of each other and arrange them however you want.

Once you like the way the layers are arranged sew the layers together in the middle. Once the layers are securely sewn together either sew or hot glue a button or bead in the middle of the flower. Next, hot glue the flower to a hair clip/pin/headband, and you're done!

An alternative is to cut petals before burning the edges of your flower. This gives the flower a more imperfect, realistic flowery look. Cut slits around the edges of the circles that are about a third of the width of the circle. I usually make 5 petals. Next, round the edges of the petals. When the flower is finished you might want to glue a circle of stiff felt to the back to prevent the bottom petals from flopping down (make sure you cut it small enough so you can't see the felt when you wear your flower). I use stiff felt with an adhesive back so I don't have to worry about glue ruining my flower. Other than this, the rest of the directions are the same!